‘The Jews always flip,’ Trump said after Cohen plea deal, according to new book
‘Siege: Trump Under Fire,’ by Michael Wolff, also alleges that Mueller drew up indictment against the president before shelving it
“The Jews always flip,” US President Donald Trump reportedly said after being told that three Jewish associates had agreed to cooperate with the Mueller probe, according to a new tell-all book on the Trump administration.
Trump reportedly made the comments after being told of witness plea deals from former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, David Pecker of American Media, and Trump Organization accountant Allen Weisselberg, according to the book, “Siege: Trump Under Fire,” by Michael Wolff.
Cohen is serving a three-year sentence for tax evasion, fraud, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations.
The book, the follow-up to the 2018 best seller “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” goes on sale next month. The details were revealed Tuesday by the UK’s Guardian newspaper, which obtained a copy of Siege.
Trump has faced accusations of anti-Semitism in the past, with many charging that he has used anti-Semitic tropes and stoked anti-Semitism with his rhetoric.
He was slow to condemn white supremacists who marched violently in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. In 2016 he circulated an image of a six-pointed star alongside a photo of Hillary Clinton, a pile of money and the words “most corrupt candidate ever.” And he told a group of Republican Jewish donors he didn’t expect to earn their support because he wouldn’t take their money.
His defenders point to the facts that his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner and their children are Jewish, his staunch support for Israel and recent condemnations of anti-Semitism.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended Trump from charges of anti-Semitism, saying “there is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than Donald Trump.”
After the publication of “Fire and Fury,” Wolff was asked in an interview if Trump was also an anti-Semite, Wolff did not answer directly.
“I’ve had this specific discussion with Steve Bannon, who thought not,” said Wolff, referring to Trump’s former chief of staff, who gave him much of his access to the White House.
Then he added, “I think that he’s aware of who is Jewish in a way that feels creepy.”
Trump, who tried but failed to prevent the publication of “Fire and Fury,” has denounced it as a work of fiction. He has not yet commented on the new book.
According to The Guardian, the book also alleges that US special counsel Robert Mueller drew up a three-count obstruction of justice indictment against Trump before deciding to shelve it.
Wolff said his findings on the Mueller investigation were “based on internal documents given to me by sources close to the Office of the Special Counsel.”
But Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, told the Guardian: “The documents that you’ve described do not exist.”
Mueller said he could not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but he did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed justice. Mueller didn’t charge Trump but wrote that he couldn’t exonerate him, either.
Attorney General William Barr released a redacted version of Mueller’s report to the public, but Democrats said they want to see the full document, along with underlying evidence, and subpoenaed the full report. The department has rejected that demand, while allowing a handful of lawmakers to view a version of Mueller’s report with fewer redactions. Democrats have said they won’t view that version until they get broader access.
Republicans have largely united behind the president, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declaring “case closed” on Mueller’s Russia probe and potential obstruction by Trump.
